Songfacts®:

• The debut major-label single from Nothing More after signing to the Eleven Seven Music Group, this song went to #1 at Active Rock radio.
• Singer Jonny Hawkins explained the song's meaning to Artist Direct: "Ballast is stuff they use in submarines to make you sink to the bottom," he said. "It plays along with our metaphor for a lot of the songs at the album's beginning - which deal with struggles of learning how to let go. The more we were holding on to some of those things, the more they were causing us to sink emotionally like in 'This Is the Time (Ballast).' You're holding on to grudges and whatnot."
• Hawkins told Artist Direct that there is a loose theme running through the Nothing More album of evolving from water to fire. He explained: "The whole concept of transitioning from water to fire is an idea we got from a biblical reference. Since we all grew up in the church and knew the Bible like the back of our hands because of our experiences, there was always this symbolism of the baptism of water and the baptism of fire."
  
  "Water was a turning point, symbolizing new life, just like the birth of a new baby. The symbolism of fire was after you had this new birth or these new eyes you're seeing through right now. The baptism of fire was the day-to-day refining and hammering process of walking down the path you're now walking. We took that approach with the concept of the whole record."